The Acer Aspire 5710Z has gone on sale in Singapore pre-loaded with Ubuntu Linux instead of Windows. Ubuntu is currently one of the world's most popular and easiest-to-use Linux distributions. But a spokesperson for Acer told ZDNet.co.uk on Tuesday that the company - one of the world's top laptop manufacturers - had 'no plans' to sell any Linux-based systems in the UK. "[Acer models] with Ubuntu pre-loaded are available at the factory level. However, there is no demand for it in the UK. Therefore, those configurations are not an option [for UK customers] at the moment," said the spokesperson.

I tend to agree, but Acer already has experience selling Linux-loaded laptops in Asia. Does Dell sell Ubuntu laptops in the UK? The US, Singaporian and UK markets are different. I guess they did a study prior to their decision. They wouldn't lose the opportunity to make a dent into the UK market. Time will tell.

* btw, has anyone else had problems buying a laptop in the UK recently? My brother had a 4 week wait with Evesham messing him around until he cancelled, and went with *I forget*, and itíll be the end of 5 weeks wait when it might arrive this Friday.

I tend to talk to random joe public people whenever I'm on a bus, train, plane etc. I'm in the UK and actually most people _have_ heard of linux. They might not know what it is exactly, but they have heard of it.

What are you talking about? Do you think companies don't want your business?

And as a Canadian, you might be aware of good RPGs from Bioware like Baldur's Gate... We have plenty of RPGs in North America. Now, even on the console there are good RPGs (jade empire, morrowwind, oblivian...)

Now if you want some the same Japanese RPGs...well despite the worship of Japanese culture by some North Americans, they're just not that popular with most people. Not popular enough to warrant selling it here.

But back on topic...linux in the UK. Here, there might be a case of corporate nudging. Maybe they only want to sell ubuntu in market with high piracy. Maybe they might lose some special deals with MS if they sell in the UK...or maybe...just maybe...there is just not enough demand in the UK.

In either case, ID software is not the MS of gaming, scaring away RPG competition.

I know about the ones from BioWare, I do not include them in what I said...of course I should have been more specific. I was talking about all the RPGs that Japan has -- and has had; predating BioWare -- that none of the gaming companies want to translate to English because they still believe there is no demand in North America. There is a lot of demand for Japanese RPGs, gaming companies still stick to some unproven notion that is going on 30 years old that no one in NA really likes RPGs...well it's been disproven time and again.

It's the same thing that Acer is doing to the people of the UK. Did they ask...again the answer always tends to be "No"; it's a bad business choice. Sharp did the same thing to Canada, when they came out with their Linux-based PDA, we had to buy it from the US which cost us almost two times as much. I, and other consumers -- possibly -- are getting tired of this.

What if your favourite videocard, etc. vendor decided not to sell a certain card where you live, but sold it everywhere else?

What has id Software to do with anything, until they bring out an RPG?

Sharp did the same thing to Canada, when they came out with their Linux-based PDA, we had to buy it from the US which cost us almost two times as much. I, and other consumers -- possibly -- are getting tired of this.

In the article, it doesn't say anything about whether or not users are wanting it, it specifically says the retailers in the UK do not want it. Users could very well be demanding it, but the computer shops have no desire to carry it, probably because they're scared it won't sell, even with the success Dell has been having. Dell won't have this problem, obviously, as they are selling it online, no actual inventory.

Possibly being pressured by MS not to sell it, which tends to be the case in most instances.

And, yes I do know what I am implying...there was a computer store in Toronto that refused to sell Linux products, but sold Windows products only; turned out MS threatend to pull their reseller license if they started selling Apple or Linux-based products.

Well to set a little reality back in...when they say there is no market, a few linux geeks complaining unfortunately does NOT constitute a market. Even 5% is generally not enough to warrant this. Factor in that every change has associated costs. If the equipment supplier Acer uses for modem, NIC, WLAN, etc.. does not supply Linux drivers, then their choice is to scrap this supplier in favor of one that does, not always economically viable.

Complain all you want, give all the idiotic conspiracy theories you want, the fact remains that in the UK Acer does not see it as viable to allow Linux. There is no dark forces behind this, simply Acer is obligated, by law, to insure a return on shareholder investment. If moving to Linux meant good business they would do it in a flash.

Maybe better spent instead of whining and crying all the time Linux fanboys should spend more time educating people on what Linux can offer. And no, the "Well it's not Windows" does not work. Give real world examples of why Linux is a good choice, and people will make a decision based upon the facts most of the time.

You might have had a point if you hadn't resorted to name calling and strawman arguments.

The fact is that Acer *does* offer Linux laptops elsewhere, ergo they must have drivers available for their hardware. And while it's Acer's right to decide that there is not enough demand, that doesn't mean that this is actually the case - you're talking as if corporations never make mistakes with their business decisions.

The fact of the matter is that Dell is enjoying a nice return on their decision to sell Ubuntu laptops in the US. Whether or not such a move would be financially beneficial in the UK or not is up for debate - and despite your aggressive assertions, there is simply not enough hard evidence to say for sure.

We have yet to see what kind of returns Dell is seeing in north america. The fact of the matter is that at this point, they have a reputation in the home desktop market unseen since eMachines, due to shoddy hardware and worse support. Considering the marginal cost to offer linux, it would probably be worth their while even if all they get from it is good press, and the image that they are again industry leaders.

I'm not saying they arent doing well with it, and it will be really interesting to see some numbers, but as of now all we can really say is that it isnt making things worse then they already are.

when dell totally dumps MS, and starts offering high quality, well supported products with ubuntu by default at a lower price then the competition, then we will talk.

I just went to the dell website, and after poking through several "customize" options on laptops and desktops, didndt see ubuntu anywhere. in fact, the only mention of linux i could find on the site is dell.com/linux where they talk about their deep commitments and whatnot.

IMHO it is exactly what i said, a desperate attempt to get a better reputation.

I just went to the dell website, and after poking through several "customize" options on laptops and desktops, didndt see ubuntu anywhere.

You know, you could have just typed "Linux" or "Ubuntu" in the search box at the top of the Dell homepage...

Personally, I think your cynicism is misplaced. Dell is taking baby steps, but it seems that it is already paying off. Dell is also getting more involved with the community, though again in a careful manner - for example, Dell was a gold sponsor of the Ubuntu Live and OSCON conferences.

This is to be expected - a large company like Dell isn't going to rush into things (though one has to say the time between the Ubuntu/Dell announcement and the systems' availability was remarkably short). Give it time.

Found it ;-) if you click on any personal/home office links, then scroll down a ways, Open Source PCs is in the essential links category. Click that, scroll down, then click "Shop For Ubuntu", which brings you to a special section with three choices.

Hopefully it plays out the way you suggest, it isn't right to be forced into buying even an oem version of windows if that is not what you use. However, the only people who will find that page are people who are really looking for it, I really don't see how this will increase linux marketshare in any way.

This is mostly a story about people not really doing their jobs properly in marketing. Step 1: insist that people don't want Linux. Step 2: don't offer Linux. Step 3: make observation that there's no demand for Linux. Do people tell resellers that they want Linux? Try having a conversation with the local Dixons/Currys/PC World trainee about anything they haven't been trained to sell. Are they really going to pass customer requests back to Acer? And what if people have already asked Acer directly about offering Linux? It's so convenient to claim there's no demand than to actually do anything about it. (And it's convenient for the punters to go elsewhere, too.)

This would just be the usual "safe", "don't stray too far from the pack" mentality on display were it not for Dell's tentative steps with Ubuntu and the whining from Acer recently about Vista making it hard for them to shift laptops, whilst Acer offer only Vista across most of their range. And I don't buy various claims about preinstalled operating systems and inventory. If you buy a Windows laptop these days, Windows isn't actually usable out of the box: it has to finish off the install before anything works.

So, vendors (and competition authorities): how about vanilla hardware and the punter gets to choose which shiny install disk they get to take away? And Acer and friends, how about making your hardware compatible with Linux? Or is it more than just marketing that takes an early lunch break and doesn't show up back at the office afterwards?